Episodes

3.1—David Williams’s attack and Dan Jones’s aggressive response

3.2—Dan Jones accuses the Reverend W. R. Davies of forging a letter

3.3—The Reverend W. R. Davies claims that William Hughes’s leg was not broken

3.4—Dan Jones responds to the twenty-page pamphlet published by the Reverend W. R. Davies

3.5—Thomas Jones apostatizes and then changes his mind

3.6—John S. Davis makes his debut in writing and publishing articles

Salient Events

• January 1846. Dan Jones, after one year in North Wales, moves to Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales and begins his first of three years as president of the Church in Wales.
• 1846. Meetings are held in the upper room of the White Lion Inn located adjacent to the Merthyr Tydfil Parish Church. This room was known as the “Cymreigyddion Hall” (i.e., the hall of those who cherish the Welsh language). Dan Jones lives at 45 Cyfarthfa Row in Georgetown, an area of Merthyr Tydfil near the modern-day stake center.
• 1846. The Latter Saints, an anonymous twenty-four-page pamphlet, is published in Merthyr Tydfil. The pamphlet has contents of a general nature and receives no response from Dan Jones. See Section 2.
• 18 January 1846. William Hughes’s leg is broken in an accident in the Cyfarthfa Mine. His claim that it was miraculously healed by special blessings he received from Dan Jones and others was hotly contested by the Rev. W. R. Davies in the March 1846 issue of the Baptist. See Episode 3.3.
• March 1846. Reverend W. R. Davies publishes The Latter Saints, a twenty-page pamphlet intended to show “The Deceit of the Creatures who call themselves the Latter-day Saints.” See Section 2.
• About March 1846. Dan Jones publishes The Scales, his first pamphlet of a polemical nature, to counter the David Williams pamphlet published a few months earlier.[1]
• 19 April 1846. John S. Davis is baptized in Llanybydder.
• July 1846. The first issue of Prophet of the Jubilee is published at Rhydybont. Dan Jones finally has his own monthly periodical in which he can put forth the teachings of his religion and combat W. R. Davies and others who attack him.[2]
• July–December 1846. In each of these six issues of Prophet of the Jubilee, except for the August issue, Dan Jones uses several pages to counter the accusations of Rev. W. R. Davies.
• 7 July 1846. Daniel Jones, a blind man, is baptized in Llanybydder. He is confirmed in “Glantrenfawr,” the house of Thomas Jeremy. See Episode 4.2.
• November 1846. Dan Jones publishes a small hymnal, the first foreign-language hymnal of the Latter-day Saints.[3]
• December 1846. The Reverend John Parry, from Flintshire, is baptized along with members of his family. After arriving in Utah in 1849, he was invited by Brigham Young to form a choir to sing at a conference of the Church. This choir evolved into the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. John Parry’s son John was the master mason for the construction of the Logan Temple, and his nephew Edward Lloyd Parry was the master mason for the construction of the St. George Temple as well as for the Manti Temple.
• December 1846. Dan Jones uses eight pages of his periodical to answer various accusations, including those of Thomas Jones, an early convert who had apostatized. See Episode 3.5.

Commentary

1846: Y Seintiau Diweddaf (The Latter Saints), pamphlet, 24 pages.

The anonymous author states in his first chapter:

It is intended in this treatise to capture a brief account of the rise of the Mormon sect, or as they call themselves “The Latter Saints.” This account shows an example of the religious deceit on the one hand and of idiotic gullibility on the other, the like of which is unprecedented in this century.[4]

On the title page is the following list of contents:

1. Foreword
2. Original history of the religious denominations in the United States
3. The testimony of Joseph Smith
4. Origin and character of the Bible of the Saints
5. Linguistic instruction of the Prophet
6. The Saints being warned from the sky
7. The new temple of the Saints
8. Missouri, promised land of the Saints—War—The Saints lose the day
9. Commotion in Nauvoo—Imprisoning the Prophet—Hyrum his brother and he are killed
10. Short history of the United States
11. Reference to books about the history of the Saints

The content of the pamphlet is more focused on providing general information about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints than on attacking its beliefs. Compared to other writings in Wales about Joseph Smith and the Church he founded, this pamphlet is rather innocuous. No response from Dan Jones has been identified. A facsimile translation is in Section 2.

Episode 3.1

Start: David Williams’s attack and Dan Jones’s aggressive response

1845: April, Y farw wedi ei chyfodi yn fyw: neu’r hen grefydd newydd. Traethawd yn dangos anghyfnewidioldeb teyrnas Dduw (The Dead Raised to Life: or the Old Religion Anew. Treatise Showing the Immutability of the Kingdom of God), pamphlet, 48 pages.[5]

In this, his first printed pamphlet, Dan Jones makes use of more than two-thirds of the section titled “The Kingdom of God” from Apostle Parley P. Pratt’s widely circulated pamphlet Voice of Warning. At times Jones translates directly; at times he paraphrases; other times he rearranges the order. Nearly always he elaborates on Pratt’s line of logic. Although at least three-fourths of Jones’s pamphlet is original, generally this “nonborrowed” portion is an expansion of ideas which had been set forth by Parley P. Pratt. Some of the more significant expanded concepts are the necessity of baptism, the existence of spiritual gifts in modern times, and the reality of the death and resurrection of the Savior. Curiously, not once in this pamphlet does Dan Jones mention the word “Mormon” or even “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” But the various ministers of other religions apparently knew perfectly well which faith Jones represented, and they united in opposition. In a cooperative effort, the Baptists and the Independents of Merthyr Tydfil appointed one David Williams to refute Jones’s pamphlet with one of their own. The title of their pamphlet went right to the point: Deception of the Latter Saints Exposed.

1845: December, Twyll y Seintiau Diweddaf yn cael ei ddynoethi, mewn nodiadau byr ar draethawd a ysgrifenwyd yn ddiweddar gan Capt. D. Jones, dan yr enw, “Traethawd ar Anghyfnewidioldeb Teyrnas Dduw,” etc. (Deception of the Latter Saints Exposed in Brief Notes on a Treatise Written Recently by Capt. D. Jones, under the Title, “Treatise Showing the Immutability of the Kingdom of God,” etc.), pamphlet, 32 pages.[6]

On 14 and 15 December 1845, Dan Jones was in Manchester for a conference and was appointed to preside over the branches and operations of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Wales, in place of William Henshaw. Jones and Henshaw traveled together from the conference to Merthyr Tydfil, where Jones would assume his new position. Awaiting him in Merthyr Tydfil was David Williams’s pamphlet, Deception of the Latter Saints. What had been occasional skirmishes since the arrival of Henshaw in South Wales had now exploded into full-scale war, a war that brought a degree of unity to the Nonconformist churches throughout Wales. Previously their battles had been with each other over points of Christian doctrine and the meaning of various scriptures from the Bible. But now they had a common enemy—The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose missionaries declared that they represented the only true Church of the Savior on the earth, a church that had only recently been restored in its fullness through a prophet in America, the Prophet Joseph Smith.

The author of Deception of the Latter Saints, David Williams, was a railroad worker from Abercanaid, a town near Merthyr Tydfil. Williams declares in the preface:

This pamphlet is not restricted to one specific denomination, and no single denomination of Christians will be answerable for its content, only so far as they agree with what it contains.

Four other railway workers, two Baptists and two Congregationalists, supported Williams with fundraising, printing, and distribution of the pamphlet.

In polemic fashion typical of the age, Williams conducts a point-by-point analysis of the assertions and claims of the pamphlet which Dan Jones had published several months earlier in North Wales. Even though Jones had not made specific mention of the religion he represented and defended, Williams had no difficulty in identifying it and arguing against it. Toward the end of the pamphlet Williams expresses particular shock at Jones’s second publication entitled Proclamation of the Twelve Apostles in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. To all the kings of the earth, to the president and to the governors of the United States of America, and to the rulers and all the people of the world:

By the time I had glanced over the above treatise on the kingdom of God, yet another one came to my attention, one so presumptuous as if it had been written by the fingers of the devil, who had dipped his pen in the venom of dragons or in the fiery furnace itself, and had it printed in the gates of hell, and this under the name “Proclamation of the Twelve Apostles—the Saints, etc., to all the kings of the earth, etc.” Oh my! for human nature to have sunk so low, and become so impudent as to assert such majestic things in a deceitful way. The above booklet, that is the Proclamation, has gone so far in its baseless assertions, that all one Welshman has to do is read it carefully to see its madness.[7]

Residents of Rhydybont were no doubt greatly surprised to learn that they were, at least according to David Williams, living in “the gates of hell.” And Dan Jones no doubt welcomed the attention being focused on the church and doctrine he represented, believing correctly that giving scrutiny to the polemic would result in converts.

The David Williams pamphlet was the opening salvo of the warfare of words, both printed and spoken, between Dan Jones and those who assailed the Church and the doctrine that he cherished. Immediately upon reading Williams’s vicious attack, Jones penned a letter to Wilford Woodruff asking for a letter of authorization for him “to collect what I can from the Welsh Saints . . . to enable me to bring out another pamphlet now, in answer to one now just out by the joint stock of Priests, just such another as the Mormonism Unveiled tho’ in Welsh, published in this place.”[8]

His request was obviously granted, because in a letter to Reuben Hedlock just a few weeks later, Jones reported the following:

I have now the last form of my pamphlet in press, and am busily engaged working them off myself. I have also a reply ready, to a pamphlet published lately, printed in Welsh, at Merthyr, against my first pamphlet, by a clan of priests, misrepresenting us, and our good Mormon creed, most foully. This I can publish within a month, if I stay here to do it.[9]

1846: Atebydd y Gwrthddadleuon a Ddygir yn Fwyaf Cyffredinol Drwy y Wlad yn erbyn Saint y Dyddiau Diweddaf, a’r Athrawiaeth a Broffesant (A Reply to the Objections Which Are Most Commonly Brought throughout the Country against the Latter-day Saints, and the Doctrine Which They Profess), pamphlet, 24 pages.

This pamphlet is the “pamphlet in press” mentioned above. Jones imitates the format Orson Pratt used in “Dialogue between tradition, reason, and scriptus.” Jones does not target any particular person or religion in this publication. The same is not true, however, in his next pamphlet, The Scales.

1846: Y Glorian, yn yr hon y gwelir David yn Pwyso Williams, a Williams yn pwyso David; neu David Williams, o Abercanaid, yn gwrthddweyd ei hun, wedi ei ddal yn ei dwyll a’i brofi yn ddeistaidd (The Scales, in Which Are Seen David Weighing Williams, and Williams Weighing David; or David Williams, from Abercanaid, Contradicting Himself, Caught in His Deceit, and Proved Deistic), pamphlet, 16 pages.

As indicated by the title, Dan Jones takes a scornful attitude toward David Williams as he puts him on the scales—David on one side and Williams on the other—and proceeds to point out his contradictions. Throughout the entire sixteen pages, each full of satire and derision, Jones simply follows the standard, mid-nineteenth-century techniques of the polemic. The bulk of Jones’s defense centers around the signs that were to follow the believers, as mentioned in Mark 16:17–18. Williams had challenged Jones to prove that Jones was sent of God by healing all the sick of Merthyr Tydfil and by drinking something deadly without suffering any harmful effect. Jones counters with scriptural quotations concerning sign-seekers. He also counters Williams’s attack on Latter-day Saint beliefs concerning additional scripture, the necessity of baptism, and Williams’s vitriolic observations about the Proclamation of the Twelve Apostles. This segment is typical of Jones’s style throughout the pamphlet:

Who says that? Williams, I think, for David in the previous two lines says the complete opposite to that in this admission. . . . Which one do you believe? David or Williams? I believe David now. . . . Well done, Williams! Although he lost before, he wins now, and is closer to the truth than David.

End: David Williams’ s attack and Dan Jones’s aggressive response

1846: 6 January, North Wales Chronicle, p. 2 (13 words).

The Mormons have nearly 2500 wagons ready for their California expedition next spring.

1846: 3 March, North Wales Chronicle, p. 2 (60 words).

The March of Intellect. It is said that the wagons that are to convey the Mormons to California will number 5000 and will form a line twenty-five miles long! In the front there will be a press and types, from which will be issued every morning a paper, to be sent back to inform the rear-guard what is going on in the van!

1846: March, Y Dysgedydd (The Instructor), pp. 79–81 (1,620 words). “Joseph Smith.”

The editor does not indicate the source of the information, but it was possibly borrowed from Mormonism Unvailed by Eber D. Howe. The article says nothing about events concerning the Church in Wales.

Episode 3.2

Start: Dan Jones accuses the Rev. W. R. Davies of forging a letter

Over eighteen months had passed since the Reverend W. R. Davies had attacked William Henshaw and other members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the March, April, May, and June 1844 issues of the Baptist. And Davies may also have been behind the strange “Epistle from an Apostle” (George Rees) to John Thomas in the July 1844 issue of the Baptist. But the appearance of Dan Jones’s Welsh translation of the Proclamation of the Twelve Apostles, the David Williams pamphlet The Deception of the Latter-day Saints, and Jones’s Reply to the Objections were very possibly the catalyst that inspired the Reverend W. R. Davies to take pen in hand once again to launch a new assault.

1846: March 1846, Y Bedyddiwr (The Baptist), p. 90 (605 words).

The Welsh translation of the supposed letter from Emma Smith, dated 20 November 1845, to the editor of the New York Sun in which she laments her current situation and declares, “I have never for a moment believed in what my husband called his apparitions and revelations.” No response from Dan Jones about this letter has been identified. He did, however, have a thundering response concerning the following two articles.

1846: March 1846, Y Bedyddiwr (The Baptist), pp. 90–91 (350 words). “To the Rev. W. R. Davies.”

Supposedly written by Abel Evans and William Henshaw, this letter is actually a challenge, dated 10 January 1846, for W. R. Davies to debate “our praiseworthy Apostle” Dan Jones on Thursday night, the fifteenth of January, at the White Lion Inn, Merthyr Tydfil. The letter is filled with numerous grammatical errors and misspellings, intended to show how uneducated the supposed writers were. The letter ends with the following:

Not from our part do we fear you, rather we shall honor him [Dan Jones] this time as our oldest “Apostle” and “Most Respected Teacher” in Wales. Take the path that you see best to follow, and if you do not come, your absence will be proof of your heresy.

The editor of The Baptist explains how he overcame his reluctance to print the challenge and Davies’s reply:

Because of the presumption of these rascals who erroneously call themselves Saints, and their constant assaults on believers and unbelievers in the areas of the Works, and the fact that they have beguiled many children and weak-minded people with their disrespect for the ordinances of Heaven through their sinful imitations of them, we hereby provide space for the following pieces of correspondence which have been exchanged between the Rev. W. R. Davies, Dowlais, and them.

Regarding Davies’s reply, the editor wrote:

We must confess that the response of Mr. Davies to them is rather clumsy, but considering the limited understanding and the low morals of those who address him, perhaps it would be difficult to do better.

1846: March 1846, Y Bedyddiwr (The Baptist), pp. 91–93 (1,895 words). “A Reply to the Above. To the most learned A. Evans and W. Henshaw.”

The Reverend W. R. Davies claims to have received a letter from Abel Evans and William Henshaw in which they challenged him to a religious debate. Davies replies:

I received a most learned note from you, the contents of which prove the extent of your knowledge, together with the arrogance of your hearts. . . . I understand from your letter addressed to me, that the intention is to get me to hold a “fair” with some sinful creature you call the “apostolic Captain.”

Davies claims that Evans and Henshaw declared in their letter that his failure to appear would be proof of Davies’s “heresy.” Davies replies:

I consider that my appearance in such a place and on such an occasion, would be proof of my foolishness.

Davies then presents a list of five reasons for his refusal:

1. The persons who address me are beneath my attention.
2. The names which you give yourselves are too low to be despised, such as “the only true church of Jesus Christ – our praiseworthy apostle Cap. D. Jones.”
3. The mad and arrogant teachings which you proclaim are beneath the attention of every man of common sense.
4. I refuse your offer with scorn, since I judge that one of your purposes in holding a “fair” is to collect fools together, but mainly to try to collect money.
5. I am completely determined to refuse your offer out of true respect for the inspired advice of God through the mouth of one of his holy apostles, who advised me saying in 1 Tim. 6:5, “Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth: from such withdraw thyself.”

In the closing paragraph of his lengthy letter, Davies writes:

I do not ask you to forgive me for not calling you “saints,” as this would be an insult to common sense, a disgrace to Christianity and a sin against God, but I call you by your proper names, sons and daughters of the devil, the enemies of all righteousness.

1846: May, Y Bedyddiwr (The Baptist), pp. 193–94 (470 words). “Defense of the ‘Saints.’”

In answer to the 10 January 1846 letter purportedly written by Abel Evans and William Henshaw and printed in the columns of The Baptist for March 1846, Evans and Henshaw sent a letter to the editor of The Baptist to firmly deny that they had written the original letter:

But we testify in sobriety and truth, in the presence of God and men, that we never wrote, or caused to be written, the aforementioned letter, or any other piece of writing to this man. . . . It is easy for every man who knows anything about us to see that the letter is a fake. We do not, and neither does Capt. D. Jones claim to be an apostle, and no one in Britain, as far as we know, claims, or is given the title of apostle in our midst.

Although the editor of The Baptist expressed a degree of reluctance about the printing of the 10 January letter, he makes the following disclaimer immediately below the letter he printed in the May 1846 issue of his periodical:

Whether the letter referred to is false or authentic, the writing is very much like the writing of this letter. They are so similar that everyone who saw them decided at once that it was the same hand which wrote the two letters.

1846: September, Prophwyd y Jubili (Prophet of the Jubilee), pp. 78–84 (4,145 words). “The Editor of the True Baptist.”

In this lengthy article, Dan Jones responds to all five of the reasons Davies had presented in the March 1846 issue of the Baptist,[10] for not having a meeting with Abel Evans and William Henshaw at their request. For example, here is the first reason Davies gives for not accepting the supposed invitation:

The persons who address me are beneath my attention. Abel and Henshaw, Oh, Excellent names! Oh, bright characters! “May my soul never become a party to their secret.”

And here is Jones’s response:

His proof that they are beneath his notice is, because of their names: “Abel and Henshaw; Oh, excellent names! Oh, bright characters!” There is a specimen of new-fashioned logic, or old-fashioned from the days of Bajazett. Who has heard that Mr. Davies has ever discussed a single subject? His subject is persons; assertion is his reason, and libeling is his trade! And so here, because a man’s parents named him “Abel,” he and every other Abel, from the oldest down, are “beneath the notice” of this renowned man! . . . It is not long since Mr. Davies considered William Henshaw’s character to be shining enough for him to bring him to his house, and extend an offer for him to join with him, and be a preaching assistant to him. And the next thing this gentle man offered him after he had refused his services, and shown abhorrence for his company, was to ask him if he would drink a glass of poison, to prove that Christ had spoken the truth—”If they drink any deadly thing, it will do them no harm.”

Toward the end of his article, Jones takes exception to one particular assertion made by Davies:

And it gives me great happiness to announce that only a few of my fellow countrymen have been ensnared by these evil creatures. . . . And of those who have been tricked by them, many have seen the deceit.

Jones then takes obvious delight in pointing out the glaring error in Davies’s statement:

A few have joined, and many have turned back. It is beyond common scholarship to say, when one takes many out of a few, how many will be left? Only Mr. Davies’s arithmetic can answer that.

1846: April, Y Golygydd (The Editor), pp. 89–90 (170 words).

Even Reverend John Jones, Dan Jones’s older brother, had something to say in his own periodical, The Editor, about the letter supposedly written by Abel Evans and William Henshaw:

If Abel Evans and William Henshaw wrote this letter to Mr. D., they deserve to be rebuked; but not half as much as he himself deserves for the letter he sent in reply. Ah! if only he could hide his letter from the eyes of the country. . . It is true that many heresies are preached by them; but, in the name of goodness, what is consuming Mr. Davies, and the others who write against them? Do you not know that the best way to increase a strange sect is to persecute it, thereby taking on a more unclean and libelous character than it has? Is there anyone at all around Merthyr and Dowlais, of the men who slander them, who dares attack their subjects? We beg, for the sake of the character of our literature, that our editors not release any more such persecution into their pages, and for the sake of the withering and ending of the Mormons, that no one persecute or disrespect them.[11]

Although the Reverend John Jones came to a partial defense of Evans and Henshaw and the Church they represented, and although he was perfectly willing to print the materials of their Church, there is no evidence that he ever converted. There is record, however, that his wife and two daughters were baptized by Dan Jones himself.[12]

End: Dan Jones accuses the Rev. W. R. Davies of forging a letter

Episode 3.3

Start: The Rev. W. R. Davies claims that William Hughes’s leg was not broken

1846: March, Y Bedyddiwr (The Baptist), pp. 111–12 (715 words). “A Miracle! A Miracle! At Last!”

This very sarcastic article is by “Quick-in-Water,” a nom de plume Dan Jones declares to be that of the Reverend W. R. Davies. The “miracle” ridiculed is the healing of William Hughes’s leg that was broken in a mine accident. Davies’s opening sentence has reference to the relatively large number of converts (approximately four hundred) to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Merthyr Tydfil area under the leadership of William Henshaw (during part of 1844 and all of 1845):

The “Satanists” greatly professed many of their miracles, and they deceived an uneducated, irreligious and good-for-nothing crowd—they succeeded in charming a host of the dregs of Merthyr to follow them.

Davies then tells of the arrival of Dan Jones:

And they were continuing with their deception quite well until the “praiseworthy apostle” came here to strengthen them in the faith, and to sell the craziest sort of pamphlet ever seen, beneath the attention of every man in his senses. This was published by some little creature sometimes called “the apostle” and other times “Captain D. Jones,” it was printed by his natural brother, John Jones, Rhydybont, (Llangollen), or the Rhymni baptismal fair member. This pamphlet claims the Satanists’ ability to “perform miracles, talk with fairies,” etc., etc.

The “craziest sort of pamphlet ever seen” refers to the Welsh translation of Proclamation of the Twelve Apostles in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. To all the kings of the earth, to the president and to the governors of the United States of America, and to the rulers and all the people of the world. After translating the “Proclamation” into Welsh, Dan Jones wrote a letter to his file leader, Reuben Hedlock, in which he told of printing the Proclamation on his brother’s press in Rhydybont:

I have now the last form of my pamphlet in press, and am busily engaged working them off myself.[13]

The final page of the Proclamation is titled “To the Welsh Reader,” dated 1 December 1845. In the final paragraph, Jones makes this fervent appeal to his compatriots:

I ask the Welsh to reserve their judgment on our characters for a while yet, and they will have sufficient proofs that what was published us in the True Baptist, the Star of Gomer, The Times, etc., are lies. As there are several calumnies about us and our religion, published by men who refuse to publish the rebuttal, these will appear as short treatises.

Davies, of course, was not about to reserve his judgment about people who posed such a threat to his own congregation. He readily gives his explanation about William Hughes’s leg:

William Hughes, a collier who lives in Collier’s Row, Cyfarthfa, had an accident; (he is one of the Satanists), he broke the small bone in his leg at work—Dr. Davies was sent for and he put it back in place and tied it up, etc.—then he was followed in a visit by the “praiseworthy apostle” and a crowd of the Satanists, and they pulled off the bandage and the apostle placed his hand on the painful area pretending to pray; and the Satanists claimed in the strongest way that they saw the swelling lessen and disappear under his hand.

Davies further explains:

The next day Dr. Davies called to see the man; and to his surprise he found him much worse than expected, his leg terribly swollen and very painful, etc. The doctor could not understand these things; but to his surprise, on looking at the leg he saw that some idiot had opened the bandage which he had applied the day before, and this had caused the above mentioned; and when questioned the sufferer admitted everything, and the foolish scoundrel has not gotten better to this day.

1846: May, Y Bedyddiwr (The Baptist), p. 194 (125 words).

An angry letter directed at “Mr. Quick yn Dwr,” written by Ed. Lewis from Cwm Gelli Dywyll, a farm in Blackwood. Lewis asks the author of the March article entitled “A Miracle! A Miracle! At Last!” to show proof for the claim that the miracle of healing William Hughes’s leg was bogus. Lewis also says that some of the “Saints” of the Blackwood area went to Merthyr Tydfil to get informed about the healing and learned that the accusations were false and that Hughes did not belong to the Merthyr Tydfil parish, nor did he receive a single penny from the poor fund.

1846, June, Y Bedyddiwr (The Baptist), pp. 232–33 (340 words).

A response by Roger Williams, Relieving Officer, to Ed. Lewis’s letter that was printed in the May issue of The Baptist. Lewis claimed that Mrs. Hughes had never received “a single penny” from the Merthyr parish and that she and her husband did not belong to that parish. Williams declares in his letter that Mr. and Mrs. Hughes were, indeed, members of the Merthyr parish and that Williams had personally given Mrs. Hughes five shillings per week over a period of seven weeks.

1846: June, Y Bedyddiwr (The Baptist), p. 232 (880 words). “The Saints Caught in their Own Net.”

Also in the June 1846 issue of The Baptist is this brief paragraph with the heading “The Saints”:

One of the chief prophets of these evil men has left the above Satanic brotherhood in America, and has published a book to make public the deceit and tricks of the chief leaders, and the deceit of their deacons; it doubtless contains many of the tricks and deceit of the children of hell, and hopefully it will serve the purpose of opening the eyes of many men deceived by the satanic crowd.

This paragraph may well refer to John C. Bennett’s The History of the Saints: Or, an Expose of Joe Smith and Mormonism.

1846: July, Prophwyd y Jubili (Prophet of the Jubilee), pp. 22–28 (4,110 words). “Fulfillment of a Prophecy.”

Regarding Davies’s article entitled “A Miracle! A Miracle! At last!” Jones devotes seven pages of this first issue of Prophet of the Jubilee to explaining the context of the miraculous healing of William Hughes’s broken leg. The “prophecy” mentioned in the title refers to a prophecy given to Joseph Smith by the angel who first visited him in 1823:

When they begin to hear that God has shown you these things, the workers of iniquity will seek your overthrow; they will proclaim and publish stories and lying accusations about you to destroy your reputation, and also will seek to take your life without cause, and as a result they will persecute those who believe in the same organization.[14]

Jones then indicates that this prophecy was being fulfilled in Wales and manifesting itself through the opposition of the Reverend W. R. Davies, a Baptist minister in the town of Dowlais:

Let even Dowlais be ashamed in seeing a man who professes to be a servant of God climbing into their pulpits, and in a foolish and blasphemous “fair,” teaching his fellow travelers towards wise judgment “not to call” those who worship the God of heaven and believe in Christ according to the scriptures “Saints, rather call them (says he) Latter-day Satanists.” Oh, humanity, what shame on you! His name—no need to ask; who does not know that it is the Rev. W. R. Davies who is the father of this name?[15]

Jones ends his article in Prophet of the Jubilee by printing his own letter regarding William Hughes, a convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the miraculous healing of his broken leg. Jones had sent this letter to the editor of the Baptist, but the editor had refused to print it. The greater part of the letter is the testimony of Hughes himself, a testimony which Jones most likely transcribed for him, since Hughes was illiterate—he signed the testimony with a cross. Only one of the ten other witnesses of the miracle was able to sign his name—all the others signed with a cross. And four of the witnesses had their own special paragraph:

We testify that the above story is true, to the utmost of our knowledge. We know that William Hughes’s leg was broken; we also heard the doctor say on the spot that the two bones were broken completely; and although we do not profess or believe in the faith of the Latter-day Saints, yet what we felt with our hands and saw with our eyes, we testify to it to give truth a fair chance.[16]

With specific reference to Davies’s article entitled “A Miracle! A Miracle! At Last!” Jones writes:

I confess that we have never before seen a treatise half as large as this published, especially in a periodical that professes to be religious, but not more than one statement of it was truth, in some corner or another.

End: The Reverend W. R. Davies claims that William Hughes’s leg was not broken

Episode 3.4

Start: Dan Jones responds to the twenty-page pamphlet by the Reverend W. R. Davies

1846: March, Y Seintiau Diweddaf. Sylwedd Pregeth a Draddodwyd ar y Gwyrthiau, er mwyn Goleuo y Cyffredin, a Dangos Twyll y Creaduriaid a Alwant eu hunain yn Seintiau y Dyddiau Diweddaf (The Latter Saints. The Substance of a Sermon Which Was Delivered on the Miracles, to Enlighten the Public, and Show the Deceit of the Creatures Who Call Themselves the Latter-day Saints), pamphlet, 20 pages.[17]

The major part of this pamphlet focuses on miracles as they are portrayed in the New Testament. In the preface, however, Davies directs a few lines at William Henshaw:

This ignorant, unlearned, and characterless ENGLISHMAN from Cornwall, after recently being put in Cardiff jail by the Welsh for evil deeds, is he the one, together with a few ignorant and characterless creatures, who possess the knowledge and secret of the kingdom of heaven?

Davies makes disparaging remarks about Dan Jones on page 16. And on page 17, Davies tells of a visit that William Henshaw had made to his home in Dowlais. Davies asked Henshaw to speak to him in Welsh to demonstrate the gift of tongues: “But instead of speaking in tongues I heard (as I knew I would) I can’t speak Welsh, sir.” Then Davies asked Henshaw to take some poison to demonstrate that “no deadly thing will harm you.” Henshaw refused, and Davies concluded that what Henshaw was teaching was nonsense.

1846: September, Prophwyd y Jubili (Prophet of the Jubilee), pp. 70–78 (5,040 words). “Review.”

Dan Jones begins this review of the Reverend W. R. Davies’s twenty-page pamphlet with this comment:

We would like to see Mr. Davies, or someone else, attacking our doctrines, in order to show our errors, or else leaving us alone.[18]

After listing several of the “pious sentences of the pen and soul of the reverend minister of Caersalem, Dowlais,” such as “the false Christs,” “fool-headed followers,” “a mockery of administering sacraments,” Jones makes an appeal to his readers:

Dear brethren, pray for this Mr. Davies, for his soul too is precious despite everything! We and he are known by our fruits. And also, we would like the reader to bear in mind that we are not attacking Mr. Davies, but we are merely men who have finally been forced to defend that way in which we worship the God of our fathers in all conscience, and we shall endeavor to be as gentle as his needless attacks on us allow us to be.[19]

In a total of twenty-eight pages, spread out over four issues of his periodical, Dan Jones meticulously dissects the many assertions made in Davies’s pamphlet and declares them to be fallacious and distorted. Finally, Jones states his conclusion:

Having searched carefully through what you see fit to call “The Substance of a Sermon,” we have failed to find any substance in it; and if this is an example of your sermons, one need not ask who sent you to preach them, for by your sermons shall ye be recognized.[20]

Here are the references for the other three segments of Dan Jones’s “Review,” in which he continues to unleash his wrath against the Reverend W. R. Davies while countering Davies’s’ teachings about miracles:

1846: October, Prophwyd y Jubili (Prophet of the Jubilee), pp. 107–09 (1,310 words). “Review.”

1846: November, Prophwyd y Jubili (Prophet of the Jubilee), pp. 128–31 (2,520 words). “Review.”

1846: December, Prophwyd y Jubili (Prophet of the Jubilee), pp. 156–60 (2,545 words). “Review.”

1847: February, Seren Gomer (Star of Gomer), pp. 47–49 (2,990 words). “Review of the Press.”

A very lengthy review of the Reverend W. R. Davies’s twenty-page pamphlet, The Substance of a Sermon, which Davies published in March 1846. “Mathetes” is the nom de plume of the Reverend John Jones, a young Baptist minister who authored the review. He has nothing but praise for Davies’s brilliant analysis of miracles. Here is one example:

It is not the inhabitants of Merthyr and Dowlais that Mr. Davies has served in the composition of this sermon, nor one religious denomination, but the cause of the Savior in general. Those who buy it, read it and ponder it in such detail that the author’s reasonings are carved in an ineradicable fashion on your minds, and so you will thoroughly understand one of the most important subjects in theology, and be able to silence the arrogant and ungodly proponents of the age.

The “arrogant and ungodly proponents of the age” is a direct reference to the Latter-day Saints about whom John Jones writes:

The arrogant creatures that Mr. Davies calls Satanists in this Sermon have caused a bit of commotion in some parts of the country, especially in Merthyr and Dowlais; but God preserve me from being so stupid as to list their despicable, shameful, and unreasonable movement among the important revolutions of the age.

End: Dan Jones responds to the twenty-page pamphlet by the Reverend W. R. Davies

1846: July, Prophwyd y Jubili (Prophet of the Jubilee), p. 3 (wrapper)(145 words). “To Our Libelers.”

In this first issue of his periodical, Dan Jones makes the following announcement and fervent appeal to all who all might be too hasty in their judgment of the religion he represents:

Precious Souls—The Prophet does not intend to settle the account with you. Another has taken that solemn task upon Himself! You will receive from us only bare testimonies to the world on behalf of our characters, and fervent prayers to heaven on your behalf. Forgiveness and brotherly love once conquered the world in the apostolic age. Forgiveness and brotherly love are fast conquering it in your age too. This will conquer you also. It will turn your hatred into love, and your slander into prayers. Draw near, brethren, and look at us. Make sure you know us before you turn away. You are slandering what you do not know. We are not perfect. It is our plan that possesses that quality. Attack it, and we shall assist you as soon as you prove it to be trickery, or our knowledge of it unworthy.

Episode 3.5

Start: Brother Thomas Jones apostatizes and then changes his mind

1846: July, Y Bedyddiwr (The Baptist), p. 250–51 (1,175 words).

In this issue of The Baptist, David Williams—the author of The Deceit of the Latter Saints Exposed in Brief Notes on a Treatise Written Recently by Capt. D. Jones, which was published six months earlier—submitted a new kind of attack on the Welsh followers of Joseph Smith. Instead of simply showing examples of their doctrine and relating stories of their supposed wrongdoing, Williams here provides the transcript of an interview with Thomas Jones, a convert who had been a member in good standing with the Saints for over three years. Williams introduces Jones to the readers as someone who was “one of the most esteemed officers” in their midst but who was now prepared to reveal the details about how he had been deceived. Jones answered each one of several questions put to him by Williams and then signed Williams’s written account of the interview to authenticate its truthfulness.

Six weeks later, Thomas Jones admitted, in the presence of witnesses, that he had not been completely truthful in the interview with Williams and that he was repentant for having allowed it to be published. Thomas Jones’s declaration, according to an affidavit signed by eight witnesses, was recorded by Elder Robert Evans, one of Dan Jones’s three converts in North Wales, in his (Evans’s) journal on 13 July 1846.

1846: September, Y Bedyddiwr (The Baptist), p. 353–55 (1,330 words).

A letter to the editor written by one “Meiriadog” (a nom de plume used by John Edwards, a poet and Campbellite Baptist) in which he recounts a visit that Robert Evans made on 2 August 1846 to Llanfaircaereinion, where Meiriadog lived. Meiriadog was present when Evans gave a sermon about the restored gospel. Following the sermon, Meiriadog, Evans, and Evans’s companion went to Meriadog’s home for a visit. During their conversation, Meiriadog quoted from the July issue of The Baptist about the Thomas Jones incident, whereupon Evans produced Jones’s repentant comments which Evans had recorded in his personal journal. Meiriadog requested and received permission from Evans to copy Jones’s comments and then quoted them as part of a lengthy letter to the editor of The Baptist. Meiriadog challenged Robert Evans to a written debate through the columns of The Baptist and assured Evans that the editor would print their writings; Evans responded that The Baptist printed only insults about the Church he represented and would never print any of their defenses. Meiriadog wrote this response:

I said that the claim was a lie—I added that everything of theirs would appear as the rest, and that I would give my life for their publication. They promised to send their correspondences to me to send to The Baptist. Remember, Mr. Baptist, leave space for them.

With a footnote, the editor of The Baptist responded to Meiriadog’s request for both sides of the proposed debate with Robert Evans:

The Baptist is open to all to defend themselves in the face of an accusation brought against them, except when the defendants have forfeited their truthful characters; on this ground the saints are free to defend themselves as long as they bring credible and well-known witnesses to confirm their evidence. We cannot allow anything other than this because we have caught them in their own traps before. But the Saints should remember that The Baptist does not exist as a tool for them to spread their tales and their assertions up and down the country.

1846: October, Y Bedyddiwr (The Baptist), p. 369–70 (1,300 words).

Upon seeing Thomas Jones’s about-face as described in Meiriadog’s letter, a desperate and clever David Williams immediately sent another letter to the editor. This letter was printed in the October 1846 issue of The Baptist. Williams carefully worded his letter to make it appear that Thomas Jones had made yet another about-face since his repentant comments recorded by Robert Evans in his journal and which Evans had had Jones sign to verify their authenticity. But in the December 1846 issue of Prophet of the Jubilee, seeing through Williams’s attempt to create a second but non-existent interview with Thomas Jones, Dan Jones argues that Williams was merely drawing further from his original interview with Thomas Jones for his “latest” derogatory observations about the falling out with the Saints.[21] Dan Jones also mentions that Thomas Jones had been excommunicated from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, suggesting that revenge was probably the motive for Thomas Jones’s rancor against the Church and his former colleagues.

These events prompted three of Thomas Jones’s acquaintances from the Church he had denounced—William Phillips, William Henshaw, and Thomas Pugh—to send a letter of defense to the editor of The Baptist to clarify the confusion. And according to the editor’s previous stance of refusing to publish any defense whenever the writers had “forfeited their truthful characters,” the editor refused to print their letter in his periodical.

1846, December, Prophwyd y Jubili (Prophet of the Jubilee), p. 148–56 (4,850 words). “Defense of the Saints versus the Accusations of Thomas Jones, Merthyr, and others.”

The first part of this lengthy article tells of when William Phillips, William Henshaw, and Thomas Pugh went to Cardiff to see Samuel Evans, the editor of The Baptist. The three visitors describe the reaction of the editor:

We implored earnestly and humbly for the opportunity to clear ourselves from the villainous filth with which we were plastered without provocation; but, as usual, the answer we received from him was a shameless refusal! Yes, poor thing, he was terrified; he turned blue, red, black and pale; he fumed and raged without a single cause except the malicious agitations of a guilty conscience until his knees and his whole body trembled worse than those of Belshazzar of long ago.[22]

The second part of this article is a copy of the letter William Phillips, William Henshaw, and Thomas Pugh had sent to the editor of The Baptist. The three men wrote the letter to defend themselves against the accusations the excommunicated Thomas Jones had leveled against them in his interview with David Williams. The editor of The Baptist refused to print the letter.

The third part of this article, written by Dan Jones, consists partly of observations about the apostate Thomas Jones.

There is also a section about David Williams, with this heading: “A Glance at that David Williams from Abercanaid, who has put his finger so deep in this salty pottage.” The first sentence refers to Williams’s pamphlet entitled Deception of the Latter Saints Exposed:

Here is that man who published the fruit of his mixed-up brain and his dirty slander against the Saints in a small treatise lately.[23]

The second sentence refers to Dan Jones’s response to Williams’s pamphlet entitled The Scales, in which are seen David weighing Williams, and Williams weighing David:

And here is the man who was weighed so fairly in his own scales and found wanting with respect to logic, scripture and truth; and he was proven a libelous deist through his little booklet.[24]

Jones suggests that Williams may have had something to do with converts to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ losing their jobs because of religious persecution:

We do not claim that it was he who persuaded one of his members to turn all the Saints from their work and from their homes, on the assertion that only because of their religion was that done. But this we shall say, If he was not the instigator of this shameless persecution and incomparable cruelty, this David Williams did not prevent one of his flock from doing it.

Here is another of Jones’s “suggestions” regarding David Williams:

We heard of some persecuting preacher who failed to keep his feet under him, and where do you suppose he found himself, rather, where he was found by others, upon returning from preaching one Sunday night, but in a duck pond! We shall not give the identity of that unfortunate wretch.

The article ends with a half-page affidavit signed by eight witnesses claiming they had seen Robert Evans record in his diary the contrite expressions of Thomas Jones.

1847: Amddiffyniad y Saint versus cyhuddiadau Thomas Jones, Merthyr, ac ereill (A Defense of the Saints versus the Accusations of Thomas Jones, Merthyr, and Others), pamphlet, 8 pages.

This is an eight-page pamphlet whose contents are taken directly from Prophet of the Jubilee, December 1846, pp. 148–56.[25]

1847: June, Prophwyd y Jubili (Prophet of the Jubilee), p. 93–94 (805 words). “Loudmouth ‘Meiriadog’ from Llanfaircaereinion Forfeiting His Head to Be a Football!!”

In September 1846, after a sermon given in the town of Llanfaircaereinion by Elder Robert Evans, one of his listeners—John Edwards (“Meiriadog”)—invited Evans to his home for a visit. When Meiriadog brought up the Thomas Jones incident, Robert Evans produced notes from his journal showing that Thomas Jones had confessed to lying about his lack of belief in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after three years as a loyal supporter. Meiriadog then challenged Evans to a written debate and guaranteed him that both their writings would be published in the columns of The Baptist. Evans responded that the editor of The Baptist would never agree to such a debate, since the policy of the editor had always been to publish only negative information about the Church Evans represented. At this point, Meiriadog promised before witnesses “that he would allow his throat to be cut, and his head to be a football, if the writing of R. Evans were not allowed to appear in The Baptist as does the writing of others.” Evans then promised to send to Meiriadog a defense of his religion to be published in The Baptist. Evans fulfilled his promise, and after several months of failing to see his letter printed in The Baptist, he sent a letter to Dan Jones. In this letter Evans wrote:

I wrote to him [Meiriadog] a defense of that which I had promised. . . . I requested him to send it to The Baptist according to his strong promise. I had plenty of reason to understand that he had received it, and I expected month after month to see it in The Baptist; but I saw nothing! Like this, since that time, many moons came and went without a hew or a mew from the great challenger, or my defense!! Neither did I hear of his death, but several here and there are heard saying that Meiriadog has forfeited his head to me, much more than did John to Herod.

End: Brother Thomas Jones apostatizes and then changes his mind

1846: July, Seren Gomer (Star of Gomer), p. 215 (990 words). “The Mormons.”

Most of the article is simply the Welsh translation of an article that had appeared in a New York newspaper. The newspaper article contained information about the exodus from Nauvoo, the city that the followers of Joseph Smith had built in Illinois. The editor of Star of Gomer promises an update of this story later “since various Welshmen have been so foolish as to join with them, and are now in their midst.”

1846: 18 July, Monmouthshire Merlin, p. 1 (385 words). “The Mormon War Renewed.”

About the aftermath of the expulsion from Nauvoo.

1846: August, Y Diwygiwr (The Revivalist), pp. 137–43 (4,200 words). “Paraphrase of Mormonism.”

A lengthy article by someone who calls himself “Nodach” Chambers. Nodach is a Welsh word that means “short notes” or “odds and ends.” All the contents except for the opening and closing paragraphs are borrowed and translated into Welsh from various sources, and it appears that Mormonism Unvailed by Eber D. Howe is the most often used of all. So, perhaps the word nodach was used with the sources in mind.

In the opening paragraph, Chambers makes his position toward the religion he calls “Mormonism” very clear. He states his purpose as follows:

In order to give a general, rough overview and to put the weak minded on alert, lest he be charmed by the lies and deceit of such dangerous charlatans, we are inclined to reward the reader who might be susceptible of being charmed in this manner with a little of the history of the founder of the false and deceptive religion, which is known these days by the name of Mormonism, or the Latter-day Saints.

And in the closing lines, Chambers congratulates himself for a task well done:

It is needless for us to enlarge on this matter, since every single witness thus far brought forth assists in exposing Mormonism as hideous and repugnant deceit, and unworthy of any kind of attention except to learn of the dangers which have been exposed here.

1846: August, Y Drysorfa Gynnulleidfaol (The Congregationalist Treasury), p. 2 (wrapper) (70 words). “To Our Distributors and our Subscribers.”

This brief note of the editor is an explanation for why he refused to publish the correspondence he had received from Dan Jones about a “Profession of Faith” which had been printed in the June 1846 issue of the periodical. This note will be discussed in the 1847 chapter along with the republication of the “Profession of Faith” in The Baptist and Dan Jones’s response in Prophet of the Jubilee.

1846, August, Seren Gomer (Star of Gomer), p. 253 (315 words). “A Mormon Miracle.”

The author, using the nom de plume of “Meurig,” reports that “Latter-day Saints” had been in the neighborhoods of Talybont and Ystradmeurig “with little books to offer to the country.”[26] According to Meurig, one of the listeners purchased a pamphlet “which showed how to perform [miracles]. When the man returned home, he found a little pig trespassing on his property, so he struck it with a long stick until it was lying flat on the ground. He supposed it to be the property of his neighbor. “Meurig” describes the miracle:

So, lest anyone should suspect him, he threw it into a hidden nook. A little after he returned to his house, he heard his wife saying that she had lost a little porker, for which she paid twelve shillings the other day; so, he returned without delay to the supposed corpse, and taking hold of it, and blowing in its mouth, and making various grimaces, he had the pleasure of seeing it returning to life and running about as usual!

1846: 25 September, The Welshman, p. 4 (45 words).

The large body of troops under Colonel Kearney, 3500 strong (including one thousand Saints), had reached Bent’s Fort on their way to Santa Fe; at which town, it is now stated, the inhabitants are prepared to welcome the American army as friends and customers.

Episode 3.6

Start: John S. Davis makes his debut in writing and publishing articles

When John S. Davis was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on 19 April 1846, he was unmarried and just a few weeks short of his twenty-fourth birthday. Having apprenticed as a printer and being fluent in both Welsh and English, Davis was well equipped to be of considerable assistance to Dan Jones, the leader of the Latter-day Saints in Wales who had already published a few pamphlets and two issues of a new monthly periodical. Davis was still getting acquainted with the doctrine and teachings of his new religion when an article by Gwilym ap Dewi, entitled “Nature of Miracles,” appeared in the columns of the August 1846 Star of Gomer (a periodical published in the town of Carmarthen, where Davis had at one time been employed). Having gained a new understanding about miracles by means of his recent conversion, Davis decided to take issue with Gwilym ap Dewi about some of his ideas and write his own article on this topic.

1846: August, Seren Gomer (Star of Gomer), p. 233–35 (2,970 words). “The Nature of Miracles.”

The writer, whose nom de plume is “Gwilym ab Dewi,” provides general information about the miracles of the New Testament and states that he sees no need for miracles “for the purpose of proving the truth of the Christian religion.” He explains that he believes the Christian religion without having seen a single miracle. “But,” he writes, “perhaps, since Christianity has split into a number of branches, a miracle would be necessary to prove which one of these branches is founded on the witness of Christ, the evangelists, and the apostles.” At this point, since The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints claims to be the only branch of Christianity in which miracles are performed, he extends the following invitation to members of this Church:

If Captain Jones, or any others of the prophets of these Saints, will present themselves within the confines of Abersychan or Talywain, and have it in their mind to work a Miracle, I will set before them five loaves and two fishes, at my own expense; and if they can, by giving thanks, feed five thousand, besides women and children, and take up twelve baskets of fragments, then I will think it obvious that they are built on the foundation of prophets and apostles. If they will send their announcement here, I am confident that we can have a multitude of five thousand, besides women and children, to partake of the loaves and the fish, and to be witnesses of the Miracle.

Compared to other writers such as David Williams and the Reverend W. R. Davies, Gwilym ab Dewi is actually quite civil in his comments about the Latter-day Saints and their teachings. He does not lower himself to name-calling, as Williams and Davies had done constantly in their writings. Instead, using syllogistic reasoning and scriptures, he puts forth his arguments against the Saints’ ideas about such phenomena as the working of miracles and the casting out of evil spirits, and he comes forth as being a rather polite and well-mannered person.

1846: October, Seren Gomer (Star of Gomer), p. 301–03 (2,480 words). “The Nature of Miracles.”

John S. Davis, using the nom de plume “I. M.,” elects to engage in a polemic with Gwilym ab Dewi by using an approach similar to the one Gwilym ab Dewi used. I.M. does not identify himself as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but he does defend the Church’s position on several topics in his response.

Here is an example. Gwilyn ab Dewi had written:

Now, if the Latter-day Saints can perform miracles, let them raise someone from the dead—let them give eyes to some blind man—ears to a deaf man—speech to a mute—and let them hold back the Atlantic Ocean, so that they might go through it on dry land to their new Jerusalem.

I. M. responds:

Here he is again very eager for a sign; and a very large, but totally pointless, sign is the one he wishes to receive, that is for us to hold back the Atlantic Ocean, and walk on dry land to America. It would be far wiser to take boats to cross over, for it would be very wearisome to walk such a way.

Davis would defend his new religion through the press as well as from the pulpit during the following eight years before emigrating. He would also translate into Welsh and publish the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price during an eighteen-month period. And he also would serve as the editor of Zion’s Trumpet, the official periodical of the Church in Wales, from 1849 to 1853.

1846: November, Seren Gomer (Star of Gomer), p. 343 (820 words). “Zeal without Knowledge”

This essay is written by “Songbird of Ton.”[27] Despite identifying himself only by his nom de plume, the writer is actually John S. Davis, the same whose article about miracles appeared in Star of Gomer for October 1846.[28] He makes clear his sympathy for the Latter-day Saints and believes they are being verbally punished by all the other Christian religions.

The writer observes:

The Christians of these days appear to be as if they have changed from what they were in the days of the Apostles, to a worse behavior; instead of praying for everyone, they pray only for those who are of the same opinion as they themselves about religious things. They threaten all who do not lend their ears to them, as did the Pharisees of old; and if they but had the same authority that Bonner had, the seal of the Queen on their belt, I am certain that they would make the Latter-day Saints either stop talking or experience that which Stephen experienced; and that many of their “Pastors” would hold their clothes considering them as holy as Saul’s in days gone by.

1846: December, Seren Gomer (Star of Gomer), p. 378 (170 words).

With reference to John Davis’s article entitled “Nature of Miracles” in the October issue of Star of Gomer, Meurig poses a question about miracles to I. M.:

SIR—In your notes about the article of Mr. W. Davies, you said that the disciples of Christ could be listed, who were the workers of the true miracles, and on the same ground as the Latter-day Saints, who are nothing but the workers of false miracles; and your reason for that was because the disciples failed to cast out the evil spirit mentioned in Math. 17:14–21; Mark 9:17–29; Luke 9:39–42. We wish to know from you whether it was a lack of power or a lack of faith that was the cause of their lack of success? If the former, why did their Teacher chastise them for failing to fulfill that which was impossible for them to do?

1847: January, Seren Gomer (Star of Gomer), p. 16–17 (865 words). “‘The Nature of Miracles’ Again.”

This article by I. M. (John S. Davis) is in response to the question posed by Meurig in the December 1846 issue of Star of Gomer.[29] Meurig’s question is whether it was a lack of power or a lack of faith that caused the New Testament disciples to fail in their attempt to cast out the evil spirit mentioned in Matthew 17:14–21. After some comments about miracles and their nature, Davis explains that the failure of the New Testament disciples to cast out the evil spirit was because of their lack of faith.

1847: January, Seren Gomer (Star of Gomer), p. 7–8 (2,060 words). “Notes on an Article by ‘Songbird of Ton.’”

A very long response to the article entitled “Zeal without Knowledge” in the November 1846 issue of Star of Gomer.[30] The author of this lengthy response to John Davis’s November article signs himself “Cuckoo of Ton,” which is yet another nom de plume of the Reverend W. R. Davies. Cuckoo disagrees with Songbird’s position about the Latter-day Saints, which was that other Christians in Wales were treating this new Christian religion in their midst in much the same fashion Paul treated the Christians in his day prior to his conversion. Cuckoo chides Songbird that he “should remember that it is zeal according to [and not ‘without’] knowledge which causes us to treat such stinking rubbish with the scorn and contempt it deserves.” In the article, Cuckoo also touches on the matter of William Hughes, a convert who testified that his broken leg had been healed as a direct result of a priesthood blessing given to him a year earlier in Merthyr Tydfil. Cuckoo ridicules the Church members for believing and propagating such “nonsense.”

1847: Amddiffyniad y Saint, yn ngwyneb camgyhuddiadau y rhai a alwant eu hunain yn “Gwcw y Don,” yn y Seren Gomer, Ionawr, 1847 (Defense of the Saints against the false accusations of those who call themselves “Cuckoo of Ton,” in Star of Gomer, January 1847), pamphlet, 12 pages.[31]

Dan Jones was rabid when he learned about the article by Cuckoo and immediately set about writing a defense. Instead of allowing his response to occupy space in his periodical, Jones elected to respond to Cuckoo, whom he identifies as the Reverend W. R. Davies, with the aforementioned pamphlet. Here is a sample of Jones’s response:

A strange bird is this species of cuckoo that blasphemes and reviles. The cuckoo has a delightful song; but more akin to the cursing magpie is the reviling of men who have done no harm to so much as one feather of her wings, or to anyone else, by calling them “false prophets,” “praiseworthy apostle,” “Joe,” instead of Joseph, “arrogant sinners,” without proving them so; “stinking rubbish,” she calls the divine religion on which thousands of people as good as she depend for eternal life.[32]

In addition to showing how unfair Davies had been regarding the healing of William Hughes’s leg in spite of numerous witnesses (four of them not members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), Jones also answers the charges that Davies brings against the Church members in his article. In true polemic fashion, Jones extrapolates on Davies’s nom de plume:

At first, we thought that it was the little cuckoo from Ton we had in our grasp, and then it turned into a profaning magpie; after that we thought perhaps the strange bird was a parrot until it became a rapacious kite.[33]

End: John S. Davis makes his debut in writing and publishing articles

1846: October, Seren Gomer (Star of Gomer), p. 309 (160 words). “A Public Debate.”

One who signs himself “D. W. P.” reports on the debate that was held in Towyn, Merionethshire, between G. Evans and “one of the apostles of the Latter-day Saints.” The latter maintained that the “gift of miracles in its whole force and early fullness, was just as attainable to these Latter-day Saints as it was to the Saints of the apostolic age.” Mr. Evans “denied this statement, and overturned it with no small dexterity.”

1846: 16 October, The Welshman, p. 4 (90 words).

About the troubles of the Latter-day Saints in Illinois.

1846: 17 October, The Silurian, p. 1 (90 words).

About the serious difficulties of the Latter-day Saints in Nauvoo.

1846: 17 October, Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian, p. 2 (30 words).

All remained quiet at Nauvoo. The place was nearly deserted. Mormons were arriving at St. Louis in a state of starvation, having fled from Nauvoo without bringing with them any means of support.

1846: 20 October, North Wales Chronicle, p. 4 (30 words).

We learn from St. Louis that two Mormon spies had been shot by the Anti­Mormon mob at Nauvoo. This, it is feared, is the commencement of a sanguinary conflict between these factions.

1846: 23 October, The Welshman, p. 4 (110 words).

About the difficulties of the Latter-day Saints in Nauvoo.

1846: October, Y Cenhadwr Americanaidd (The American Messenger), p. 311 (80 words).

Information about the “bloody battles between the Mormons and the Anti-
Mormons in the area of Nauvoo” in mid-September, which resulted in the departure of the remaining Latter-day Saints.

1846: 19 November, Yr Amserau (The Times), p. 2 (165 words). “Latter-day Saints”

A sixteen-line poem by Clwydfardd,[34] the nom de plume for David Griffith who was a well-known poet at this time and later the Achdruid of Wales. The poem was sent to The Times by the poet’s friend “G. Dinam,” probably a nom de plume as well.[35]

The first four lines of the poem are as follows:

You, Latter-day Saints,

I shall follow whilst I live,

If you can perform the miracles

Which our Lord’s Apostles did.

1846: December, Y Drysorfa Gynulleidfaol (The Congregationalist Treasury), p. 354 (120 words).

The following lines are from an article entitled “Psalm 72:17”:

His name shall endure forever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed.

In a section that focuses on the phrase “His name shall endure forever,” the author laments:

It is true that there are many things in our kingdom at present which tend to create panic in the fear. The Papist streams originate from one of the main fountains of instruction of our kingdom, and many drink from these polluted streams—Mormonism spreads its wings over the ignorant and the foolish.

1846: 18 December, The Welshman, p. 2 (30 words).

From Santa Fe we learn that the Mormon levy had at length arrived, and would shortly set out en route to California, in the track of General Kearney’s force.

Notes

[1] See Defending the Faith: Early Welsh Missionary Publications, item J4.

[2] The complete volume is available on the Welsh Saints Project website at http://welshsaints.byu
.edu/Resources/pdf/24375.pdf.

[3] See Welsh Mormon Writings, 35–39.

[4] Anonymous, The Latter Saints, 1846, 5.

[5] Facsimile translation is in Defending the Faith, item J1.

[6] Facsimile translation is in Section 2. Only the second printing is extant. On the title page is “Second printing” and the date of 1846.

[7] A facsimile translation of Williams’s pamphlet is in Section 2. Facsimile translations of all the pamphlets of Dan Jones are in Defending the Faith: Early Welsh Missionary Publications.

[8] Dan Jones, 2 January 1846 letter to Wilford Woodruff.

[9] Dan Jones at Rhydybont, 7 February 1846 letter to Reuben Hedlock. Millennial Star 7:62. The “pamphlet in press” first mentioned has reference to item 3 in Welsh Mormon Writings, 20–23. The “reply ready” has reference to item 4 in Welsh Mormon Writings, 23–27. See Defending the Faith, items J3 and J4, for the English translations.

[10] The Baptist, March 1846, 91–93.

[11] Y Golygydd (The Editor), April 1846, 89–90.

[12] See Swansea branch records at the Church History Library in Salt Lake City, UT for details.

[13] Dan Jones, 7 February 1846 letter to Reuben Hedlock.

[14] Prophet of the Jubilee, July 1846, 22.

[15] Ibid., 24–25.

[16] Ibid., 28.

[17] Facsimile translation is in Section 2.

[18] Prophet of the Jubilee, September 1846, 70.

[19] Ibid., 71.

[20] Prophet of the Jubilee, December 1846, 159.

[21] Ibid., 155.

[22] Ibid., 148.

[23] Ibid., 154.

[24] Ibid.

[25] See Defending the Faith: Early Welsh Missionary Publications, Item J6.

[26] These little books were most likely the four-page pamphlet entitled What is Mormonism? See Welsh Mormon Writings from 1844 to 1862: A Historical Bibliography (Provo: Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center, 1988), 33–35.

[27] The word Ton appears to be a place.

[28] Star of Gomer, October 1846, 301–303.

[29] Star of Gomer, December 1846, 378.

[30] Star of Gomer, November 1846, 343.

[31] Defending the Faith, item J9.

[32] Defense of the Saints, pamphlet J9, 2.

[33] Ibid., 9.

[34] “Poet of Clwyd,” a county in North Wales.

[35] “Dinam” means “blameless” or “true.”